A Dream Come True?
by The Mog Returns
Summary: When we write an original character we all dream of them having adventures with Natsu, Happy, Lucy and the gang. But a new Dark Guild has formed and has started preying on those hopes and dreams for their own purposes, trapping living OC's in a cursed spell book. Lucy and three OC's have managed to keep it out of enemy hands, but for how long?
1. Chapter 1

**The following is a work of Fan Fiction. Fairy Tail is the work of Hiro Mashima, any other works referenced are the property of their respective authors.**

**And breathe. This is my second attempt at publishing this, my original concept was based around an Original Character that I came up with for a SYOC story that I grew too attached to to part with and two deliberately bad oc's, the original concept being that I was going to follow them exclusively and use the Fairy Tail cast sparingly. however, I realised after putting the first version online that starting with the characters that I'd made bad on purpose actually backfired and made me look like a poor writer, and that nobody would be interested in a Fairy Tail story that didn't actually have the Fairy Tail crew involved. So I've abandoned that concept, done a little editing and brought a few things forward that were intended to be a mystery. There's no shame in admitting that a bad idea was a bad idea. **

**Without further ado, here's the much improved version of my tale. massive thanks to anyone who may have looked at the original no matter how briefly **

* * *

The night was dark, the lair was dank, and poor Lucy Heartfilia wasn't entirely sure what it was that she could smell, but she was sure that she was better off not knowing. Not that her companions showed any sign of being bothered by it. Erza Scarlett, as stoic and determined as ever. Gray Fullbuster, cool and collected. Natsu Dragneel, all fired up and ready for a fight. Even Happy the Exceed was focused on the job instead of cracking jokes and complaining about being hungry. Lucy focused on calming her nerves. She had a very bad feeling about this.

"Alright, we're close enough. Our targets name is Vester Bosh, a dark wizard formerly associated with the now broken up Hydra Head guild. We're to find him, stop his summoning spell and locate the stolen artefact he's using" Erza briefed them in a no-nonsense tone

"Err, I have a question. What is this artefact exactly? Do we know how he's planning to use it?" Lucy asked, determined to at least give voice to her concerns. Their client hadn't been very forthcoming with that information and it bothered her a lot.

"We only need to know one thing. Where he is. Just point me in the right direction" grinned Natsu, punching a fist into his open palm with a confident smirk on his face. Behind his shoulder Happy piped up with a confidence to match the Dragon Slayer's. "Aye Sir! Don't be a big fat worry wart Lucy, This job is easy!"

"What did you call me you damn cat!" Lucy fumed while the blue Exceed smirked at having successfully wound the girl up.

"That's enough. What's important right now is that we're in the middle on an enemies lair. Now is not the time to bicker" Erza was firm. Happy made a zipping gesture across his mouth and saluted, waited till the scary Requip mage turned her back, and stuck his tongue out at Lucy before he and Natsu followed Erza deeper into the lair. Lucy's face was red from holding back her anger.

"For what it's worth I agree with you" Gray spoke up "That guy we spoke to was way too cagey with what he was prepared to tell us. I don't like it"

* * *

Erza led the way deeper into the ancient building. Natsu and Happy were right behind her, Natsu holing his flaming fist up to act as a torch, leaving Gray and Lucy to follow behind. This building had been a temple once, hundreds of years ago. Until recently it had been home Hydra Head, a Dark guild too small to have been noticed by the Balam Alliance. They'd been considered an independent guild until a man named Brando became their master and showed their true colours. Obsessed with immortality, Brando had begun to steal anything he could find, perform any ritual no matter how dark or twisted, anything at all. It didn't matter to him, all he wanted was his goal of eternal life and he would do anything to get it. It had been Lamia Scale's Jura Neeksis who had ended his sick ambitions a mere two months ago and ever since then former members had been cropping up causing all kinds of trouble. This wasn't the first time a team from Fairy Tail or any other guild had been called in to clean up the mess. Lucy couldn't shake the bad feeling in her stomach. The man who'd given them this mission had told them exactly where the former guild hall was and how to get in without setting off any of the traps there. Maybe he was a former Hydra Head member looking for revenge against Bosh for something and was using a legal guild to do it?

Up ahead Erza stopped them with a hand gesture. They were about to enter the main chamber and a voice could be heard reading a chant.

"From here we'll split into two teams. Bosh isn't expecting to be interrupted but we can't rule out the possibility that he has help. Gray and I will circle around to the back entrance to the main chamber. We'll be able to reach the second level from there and I'll be able to see what we're dealing with. Natsu, Lucy and Happy will watch the main entrance here. Don't move to attack until we're all in position. Remember, we still don't know what the artefact is so we can't risk it being accidentally destroyed"

With various nods of agreement and an "Aye Sir" from Happy the wizards split up. Once Eza and Gray were out of sight the three remaining mages carefully ducked into the chamber to take up their positions.

Vestor Bosh was inside. A skinny man with greying hair and bulging eyes, wearing a robe that was far too big for him. In one hand he held a dirty looking spell book. His other he was waving over a sleeping girl who was lying on an alter as he chanted some spell. Behind him on a raised pedestal was a huge yellow Lacrima that was glowing with a place light. The Fairy Tail wizards ducked behind a nearby column. Thankfully Bosh hadn't spotted them.

"That Lacrima looks like an artefact. You were right Happy, this is an easy job" Natsu whispered to his two teammates "We just wait for the others, I go in and fight him and you two grab the Lacrima while he's busy"

"Never mind that, what's he doing to that girl?" Lucy asked in a hushed tone. It was hard to see from where they were but she wasn't moving. Something about her was odd though. Lucy couldn't see much from her current position, but she could see the girl's hair. It was purple, and so long that it tumbled off the side of the alter and touched the floor.

"I know! While we're waiting for Erza and Gray to get into position I can go spy on him!" Happy pipped up

"I'm not sure that's a good idea" whispered Lucy

"Why not? All his attentions on what he's doing. I just have to fly up high and he'll never see me"

"Happy's right, plus, he can tell us if that stinky looking guy has anything hidden" Said Natsu. Bosh made no sign to show that he was aware of the intruders. Lucy nodded. "Just be careful"

"Aye" with that Happy took off for the roof, careful not to let Bosh or any waiting thugs see him.

From his high up vantage point Happy could see everything. The girl with the ridiculous hair wasn't moving, but she was covered in some kind of letter magic. The words were running over her skin and clothes as the dark wizard continued his chant. Happy glanced towards the upper level door in time to see Gray and Erza arrive and being to take stock of the situation. Bosh stopped chanting. Then he opened the book and held it over the figure on the altar. As the Fairy Tail mages watched in shock the girl began to break apart, the words covering her pulling the pieces into the book until there was nothing left. The Dark Wizard surveyed his work and began muttering to himself like a madman.

"Not enough… not enough… need another. Need another dreamer… a stronger one. Not enough…" With that he turned back to the glowing Lacrima, muttering something about summoning another dreamer.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER. YOU BASTARD!" Natsu sprang into action, he'd seen enough

"Intruder! No! What did you see!" Screamed Bosh

"I saw you trap that girl in that book you're holding. And you're gonna let her out now! FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Natsu went on the offensive, sending flames hurtling towards the dark wizard. Bosh screamed "Unholy Paladin!" and a figure made of words flew from his book and took Natsu's fire attack.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Erza shouted as she sprang into action, Quickly requipping into her Black Wing armour and cutting down the wizard's Familiar with one smooth action. Unfazed, bosh summoned more, only for a cry of "FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK" and a sudden burst of flame to reduce them to ashes. Lucy was watching from her hiding spot. Bosh was summoning Familiars and trying to back towards a door. He was showing no interest in the Lacrima. An idea formed in her mind, She called out to Happy.

By now Gray had joined the fight against Bosh's Familiars. The dark wizard seemed to think that all of his attackers were busy. That was when Lucy acted, grabbing a golden key from her belt.

"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" and with that the massive form of the Celestial Spirit Taurus was between Bosh and his exit, wielding his giant two headed axe.

"I figured it out, you don't care about the Lacrima at all. The artefact is your spell book! It's the only thing in this room that you're trying to protect" She called out.

"Artefact…He sent you!" Bosh visibly paled "You're wrong, he wants that Lacrima, not my spell book"

"Well let's just test that. Taurus! Smash that Lacrima!" She called

"Anything for my gorgeous Miss Luuucy!" Taurus called out as he sprang into the air, swinging the axe down onto the Lacrima and breaking it into three pieces. Just as Lucy had suspected, the second everyone's attention was drawn Bosh turned to run for the door. What he wasn't expecting was the sudden bolt of blue that whizzed across his chest and plucked the book from his shocked hands.

"Lucy! I got it!" Happy cried out triumphantly. Bosh backed up a few steps then ran as an icy lance flew at him.

"Let him go, The job was to stop his ritual and reclaim the artefact. There was nothing about chasing him down" Erza stopped them. Happy flew down to them, still carrying the book.

"What is this thing? It smells really bad" said the Exceed, gratefully dropping it into Lucy's hand.

"I don't know, but we all saw him trap that girl inside it. And then he said he needed another…" Lucy had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Maybe we should take it back to the guild, Have someone like Levy take a look at it before we hand it over. Who knows what we're dealing with" Suggested Gray

"That's a good idea. Grab the Lacrima shards too, in case Lucy was wrong about the book being the artefact" Erza said in her most business like tone.

* * *

In a nearby wood three girls awoke, all unsure of how they had got there or even who each of their new companions were. With hazy minds they tried to remember just what had happened to them. The youngest of the three spoke first.

"The last thing I remember was being at home. I was uploading a fanfic onto the internet" she said, her fingers twisting nervously at the sleeve of the elaborate pink and gold dress that she wore.

"Wait, so was I!" said the second, a dark haired girl wearing a revealing black outfit "Mine was a Fairy Tail fanfic…"

"So was mine! and I'm dressed just like my OC! What about you guys?" said the first girl. The third, who had so far sat silent, swallowed nervously and nodded in agreement. The first girl bounced around in excitement. "this is so cool!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, just a note. Kayla and Lumia are meant to be badly written characters. I basically picked the laziest storylines I could think of for their introductions, they're not based on anything I've actually read here, I spent a good while reading the Mary Sue page on TV Tropes to come up with them. **

**Thanks to anyone who checked out the first chapter. Fairy Tail is not mine and I haven't made any overt references that need pointing out yet. Hope you like it!**

* * *

It felt like waking from a deep sleep, everything was heavy. A blond girl in a red coat lay on the grass staring at her outstretched arm when something occurred to her. She quickly shrugged the coat off and turned to where her two new companions were figuring things out.

"…People don't just wake up inside anime just by posting stories online" the dark haired girl was scowling. She was tall, her dress consisting of a short black top and hot pants with thigh high black boots and a black cape with armored shoulders. And Blondie had totally missed whatever she'd been saying.

"Geez grouchy! Well we should introduce ourselves first. If we know each other's stories and characters then maybe we can see what they all have in common, maybe that'll be a clue"

She drew herself up to her full height. "My names Lumia and I'm a Sunlight Dragon Slayer! I ran away from home when my parents were mean to me and my dragon Solara found me, but she vanished and I have to find her" The girl announced, complete with magical girl poses, flourishes of her golden brown hair tied into sweet bunches and twirls that showed off the glamorous dress that she'd clearly spent a lot of time describing in perfect detail. The scowling girl groaned.

"Oh my god. You're a Mary Sue with the most boring and unoriginal storyline ever. Did you actually think anyone would read your so-called story when you published it!" She snapped.

"You don't have to be so mean!" Lumia shouted back "What's your story that's so much better?"

"My name is Kayla. I use Darkness Maker magic and I'm on a quest for revenge against the Dark Guild that killed my family" She smiled as she said this. As though somehow proud of how dark and twisted her story and appearance were. Blondie thought she looked like a stripper but kept that to herself.

"Like we haven't heard that a million times before, you're not original at all so don't call me a Mary Sue!" Lumia yelled back at her

"It's more original than yours!"

No it's not!"

"Guys! Guys!" Blondie spoke for the first time, "instead of arguing over whose story is better what about real details? What are your names in real life? Where do you come from? Who are your families?"

That shut them both up.

"I can remember all the details about my story and my character. I can remember actually writing the story, but I can't remember anything else" She stood up and walked towards the others. "Can you remember anything from your lives?"

"…no, you're right" Kayla agreed.

"I can't remember anything" Lumia said in a quiet voice.

Without the red coat Blondie was more plainly dressed than the other two. She wore combat pants and a black t-shirt. her hair was tied into a spiky ponytail and she wore a pair of round sunglasses. She'd used the time they'd been arguing to stash the damn coat into a nearby backpack that she assumed was hers, and she'd have stashed the damn glasses too if she didn't need them to hide her stupid eyes. What the hell had she been thinking?

"So what the hell kind of story did you write? Please tell me you're not another Mary Sue" Said Kayla after a moment, breaking the silence that had fallen over the strange group.

"err… Well…" She stalled "I know a little Requip magic, but my story was mostly about how I was working on my own kind of magic" Blondie held up her hands in an innocent gesture, completely avoiding the question. "I call it Glyph magic. It's kind of like Levy's Solid Script or Fried's Dark Ecriture. watch this" She picked up a stick and started to draw a complicated glyph on the ground.

"It works like this. The glyph contains instructions that make the spell. Once it's written I just pass my magic energy through it and that triggers the spell. I'm guessing we already know our character's individual abilities and stuff, but it can't hurt to test it out. Scientifically" She spoke as she worked, drawing blank expressions and sweat drops from the others. "Ta da!" She touched the finished glyph. It glowed orange before bursting into flames. "OUCH! Hot hot hot!" She quickly pulled her hand away and started jumping around.

"Great. I'm stuck with a Mary Sue and a moron with weak powers and a boring story" Kayla complained while Lumia glared at her. "It took you ages to draw that glyph and all you did was burn yourself. What use is that? And you didn't even tell us your name you idiot"

"Lumia's right. you are mean. And how am I meant to tell you my name when I don't remember it myself". The girl was crying now. Twin Rivers ran from her eyes.

"Your characters name? You should remember that. You're right Kayla, she is a moron" Lumia said disdainfully. The moron was muttering something under her breath that sounded like 'full of mercy'.

"What was that?"

"Oh! I said… you can call me Marci" she instantly brightened up and started laughing as she slung her pack over her shoulder. The other two did not look impressed with the blond goofball. "So, now all that's cleared up what do we do now? We still aren't any closer to figuring out how we got here"

* * *

Across the way a team of tired mages were checking into an inn. Erza had decided that she required a roof over her head to rest peacefully tonight and nobody disagrees with Erza. Lucy was just glad of the chance to stop and see if there were any perfumes or odor-neutralizing Lacrima's available. She'd been left carrying Bosh's spell book ever since the fight in his lair and Happy hadn't been kidding. It stank. She was currently sat by an open window in the room she was sharing with Erza trying to look through the pages without gagging.

"For the last time Flame Brain, You can't have that bed! I already put my stuff on it!"

"Hey, I was in the room first, Ice Princess! I get first choice! AND WHERE ARE YOUR PANTS!" The sound of raised voices came from the next room, clearly Gray and Natsu were up to their usual tricks. Erza didn't say a word as she went next door, but the sound of two skulls being smashed together was loud enough to hear from the hallway, followed by a weak "We're sorry" in the deathly silence that followed.

Lucy just sighed and went to inspect the broken Lacrima. Taurus had managed to split it into three pieces. One was large and clear, the second chipped and clouded and the third was smaller than the other two and full of cracks. She picked up the clear piece and returned to the horrible stinky book, thinking about maybe lighting a candle on the table to see if that would help.

"GUYS! COME SEE THIS!" She screamed. In a flash the others were there, shouting "What's wrong, what's happened?"

Lucy held the broken piece in her hand close to the page. Underneath it the words formed into a figure that beat it's tiny fist against the paper holding it captive. On the next page a second figure joined it, waving its hands above it's head as though trying to call for help.

"What the hell was Bosh trying to do?"


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Fairy Tail, and while there are a lot of OC's in this story now they are not intentionally based on anyone's work, professional or otherwise, unless otherwise stated. **

**Personal note, I find it funny that some people really seem to struggle to come up with evil characters while I find it kinda fun. Although having said that I really struggle with anything romantic and there are some really good ones on this site. Thanks to anyone who's read this far. I really would love it if you could let me know what you think**

* * *

The sun rose slowly over the mountains, but this dawn would bring no joy. The solitary figure stalked though the forest like a man on a mission. He was alone, he didn't need any friends. They were a weakness that would only slow him down. Everyone was scared of him anyway, his power to control four elemental demons was too powerful and at any moment he could lose control…

The Gary Stu was too caught up in his own musings about how awesome he was and wandered straight into the world's most obvious pitfall trap.

Good Grief.

Two figures approached the trap and peered inside to see their prey.

"Is this one of them?" Asked the first, an older man with a slight build. Half of his face seemed frozen and fallen, as though he couldn't move it. He didn't look threatening at all yet the skinny, foul smelling man with the bulging eyes was terrified of him. Maybe it had something to do with the huge centipede that was wrapped around his neck.

"Yes. It's a dreamer. A strong one too. Our Lord will be pleased…!" Bosh began babbling but was cut off as the bug around his neck tightened its grip

"My Lord does not forgive traitors. You should watch your tongue" The man turned his attention back to the semi conscious form in the pit. At his command hundreds of spiders crawled up to the boy and began to wrap him up in their webs before carrying him on their backs. It was time to take the prey home.

* * *

After spending an uncomfortable night in the forest the three girls had managed to agree to head to a nearby town. They were all hungry and needed some way to find their bearings. Thankfully Marci had written in a joke about her OC's wallet. While it wasn't very funny it at least meant that she had one and there was money in it. The other two hadn't thought about details like that. This lead to a discussion of now Lucy had originally met Happy and Natsu and had bought them dinner, which lead to a discussion about meeting actual Fairy Tail Wizards.

"I'm most excited to meet Natsu and Wendy! The Dragon Slayers are so cool! And the Exceeds too!" Lumia chirped and skipped on a happy cloud.

"Yeah, speaking of Exceeds, if you're a Dragon Slayer too shouldn't you have a Exceed partner? Y'know, since pretty much everyone has one now" Marci commented, making Lumia stop dead in her tracks.

"You're right. I didn't think of that" Her golden eyes treated to spill over with tears at the oversight. The girl was emotional.

"That's because you were too busy working out how many bows your dress should have. Seriously, how long did you spend describing that awful get up?" Kayla sneered at her

"You don't have to be so mean" Said Lumia, fighting back the tears that were burning her eyes and fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.

"It's not my fault you're a bad writer. If you just took some time to think about things besides what you look like you'd be in a much better position" Kayla started. Marci stepped up

"Look, you may not like it but we're all in the same boat here. Picking fights with each other isn't going to help"

"You're one to talk. You could have come up with any kind of magic in the world and you chose drawing pictures? Do you even have any decent weapons or armor to requip or is that where you keep you sketchbooks? And what are you going to do when we have to fight Dark Guilds? Hide behind Little Miss Sunshine here? I'm clearly the strongest out of all of us so you two should just shut up and follow what I say. That's the only way we're going to get to the bottom of this" With that Kayla swished away, her long black hair and cape flowing behind her. Marci yelled after her "Who said anything about fighting dark guilds?!"

"In my story I fight dark guilds all the time. What do you do? Fight bad guys with art?" With that the self-proclaimed Darkness Maker sauntered off, laughing as she went about being the better writer.

The tears Lumia had been holding back spilled out.

"Don't worry about her, I bet she's never wrote an original character before now. She probably just writes those clichéd stories where Lucy gets kicked out of the guild and turns all dark and twisted. Moron's so full of herself that she wouldn't know a good idea if it jumped out of the bushes and chased her around" with that Marci puffed up her chest and flapped her hands above her head as she hopped from one foot to the other. "I am the Idea Monster! Boogah boogah boo!"

Lumia sniffed a little and wiped her eyes. "You really think so?"

"Sure I do, nobody can be that mean all the time. It's probably just an act because she wants to be the dark character, like Gajeel. And speaking of him, he didn't meet Pantherlily right away either, now did he? I'm sure your Exceed partner is out there somewhere waiting for you" She smiled and ruffled Lumia's hair, earning a small giggle from the younger girl. "Now, lets go find something to eat"

* * *

Three figures approached a rich, opulent mansion. One led, one followed, and the third was dragged on the back of spiders. The man with the frozen face opened the door and led the way to a large chamber where his companions were waiting. A young girl with dark blue hair piled high in a ponytail bounced around excitedly and grabbed the hands of her companion, a young woman conservatively dressed in a black outfit with her equally dark hair in a tight black bun.

"Brunhilde! Brunhilde look! Wyndham is home. Who has he brought with him?" The blue haired girl asked excitedly. She kept her eyes closed as she said this.

"He has brought the traitor. Surely you can smell him, Miss Eustace?" said the woman identified as Brunhilde spoke in a clipped tone. Eustace picked up a cane from the chair beside her and carefully walked over.

"I can, but there's someone else. There are too many spiders for me to tell who it is" said the blind girl.

"It doesn't matter who he is, where is Maddock?" said the man with the frozen face, now known as Wyndham.

"With the Lord. Shall I escort you to them?" Said Brunhilde

The two remaining men were in a small, dark chamber to the side. Wyndham dragged his captives with him and the two women followed.

"You found him. And what is that" Maddock spat at the boy held captive by the spiders. A tall and broad man with steely grey eyes, he wore only a pair of baggy trousers showing off his muscular chest. There was no hair anywhere on his body but he was covered in imposing tattoos.

"The guild… Hydra Head…" Bosh stammered uselessly

"Didn't you hear. That guild is gone. Lamia Scale killed the guild master"

"But he's..!" The centipede around Bosh's neck pulled tight, silencing the man. The final figure in the room stood facing the fire. He kept his back turned as he spoke.

"It seems someone hired another Legal guild to put an end to your experiments, Vestor. I wonder who it could have been"

"Fairy Tail! They have my book! They have my dreamers!" Bosh screamed before Wyndham silenced him again

"We'll have to recover it. Without it this filthy creature is useless" said Maddock. Behind him Eustace stifled a laugh.

"Very well Maddock, I shall leave this to you. In the meantime let us prepare. I want to see this so-called 'Dreamers' magic for myself"

* * *

Back at the village Lumia had found a street vendor selling steamed buns that smelled amazing and was pressing her hands against the cart while Marci was haggling over prices. Neither of them knew where their grumpy companion had gone but they weren't too worried right now. The smell of deliciousness and the growls of empty bellies were all that mattered. That was when a certain pink haired young man with a certain blue cat sitting on his shoulder decided that he'd join Lumia in pressing his hands against the cart and openly drooling.

"Are those two with you as well?" The Vendor asked. Down the street a young woman with long blonde hair was shouting

"Natsu! Happy! Where did you guys go?"

Marci could feel the sweat drop off her brow before she answered the vendor.

"Err… I think I'll take another dozen"


	4. Chapter 4

**Woo, New chapter! As ever I am nothing but a humble fanfic writer playing with someone else's toys. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima and any ****similarities in my OCs to anything else are purely coincidental.**

**I'm also messing with an idea for a GaLe one shot that may or may not see the light of day. Not sure yet. I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts :) **

* * *

"So all you really need is the Guild Master's approval. Of course, having someone put in a good word for you can only help but we've had people walk in and join up dozens of times. As long as you're a mage and you're willing to work you should be just fine" Lucy was busy explaining to the glowing fangirl in her presence. Lumia looked like all her dreams were coming true. She and Marci were sat by a fountain with the Celestial Wizard and her two friends. Natsu and Happy were happily devouring the steamed buns that Marci had bought them. Lumia had wasted no time in screaming that she was their biggest fan and it would be a dream come true to join her favourite guild. So far she hadn't said anything about her magic, or the groups unusual start.

"Om nom… If you wanna join the guild you should come with us! Nom nom" Natsu managed to say around mouthfuls

"Yeah, we're going back to the guild now. We just finished a mission and we need to find someone to look at a stinky book for us" said Happy. Natsu swallowed his mouthful with a noisy gulp.

"Speaking of which, where is that thing? I haven't smelled it in a while"

"I found this at the local magic store. The guy there said this cloth was enchanted and could keep clean and fresh for weeks without washing it. I just hope it's strong enough to last until we get home" Lucy explained as she pulled a large cloth covered tome out of her bag. The cloth had been a pristine white when she had bought it, a mere half hour ago. It was already starting to yellow from touching the stinky thing.

"Don't unwrap it Lucy, these buns taste good and the smell makes me sick" Complained Happy, grabbing another bun from the bag as he did so

Lucy just looked at the wrapped up book. She couldn't get the figures she'd seen in the text out of her head. There were people trapped inside it, they'd all witnessed what Bosh had done to the girl with the purple hair. There was no way of knowing how many people he's trapped inside it before they'd stopped him. Lucy was confident that once they got back to the guild hall her friend Levy McGarden would know what to do, but if the Script mage was away on a mission what would they do then? The figures she'd seen had clearly been desperate to be free. Lucy took a look at the two would be recruits. Lumia had joined in a competition with Natsu and Happy to see who could fit a whole bun in their mouth the fastest. Clearly not the smartest of the bunch. Marci however…

"I know this is kind of a long shot but I don't suppose either of you know any kind of word or letter based magic?" She asked, not sure what to expect. Lumia swallowed her bun in an even louder gulp than Natsu had managed, earning herself a thumbs up from the fire dragon slayer.

"Oh Marci does! She uses Glyph magic, but it's not very good. She burned her hand trying to light a fire with it. I could have done it better with my sunlight magic because sunlight can light fires"

"HEY! I thought you were the nice one!" The spiky haired girl was not happy

"Oh! Glyph magic! That's perfect! You have to be really good at research and written magic to use it. I've read all about the different styles but I've never actually seen someone perform it before! Do you have any marks tattoo'd yet or have you not perfected them enough. I know that if the lines cross or if the matrix is incorrect the spell can backfire and since you've only got limited space on your body before you run out of places where you can put the marks they have to be perfect!" Lucy grabbed Marci's hands, suddenly very excited about this new magic. Off to one side, Lumia whimpered slightly now that the attention was no longer on her.

"Wait, tattoos?" Kayla had reappeared and actually took an interest in something other than herself. Marci looked embarrassed at all the sudden attention.

"Err… yeah. Glyphs take a long time to draw, and the spells only work if the mage can pass their magic energy though the glyph. Losing contact breaks the spell. So most Glyph mages research the marks they want until they're perfect and then put them permanently onto their skin. Bun?" Marci offered her the bag of goodies. "This is Kayla, she's with us"

"Hmm, that's actually interesting, about your magic" She said, taking a bun from the bag "I still think you're weak though, you don't have any marks or tattoos that I've seen"

"Your name's not Kayla, It's Captain Mean Pants"

"Hey! Hey! Girls! Argue later. Right now I need someone to help decipher this book and you're the nearest person who can help. If you wanna join my guild, you've got to help" Lucy jumped to her feet and pointed at Marci though out her little speech, making the confused girl pause with a bun halfway to her mouth

"You can do tha… HEY!" A certain hungry Exceed decided to help himself to the bun that Marci clearly wasn't eating. Off to the side, Natsu was pondering with Lumia about what sun fire tasted like.

"Yes I can. I'm officially recruiting you to Fairy Tail as of this moment. Your friends too. Now come on, we're going to find Erza and you are going to see what you can make of this book right now!" Lucy yelled as she grabbed the protesting Glyph mage by the collar and dragged her off.

"Hey! Wait for us! Oh my gosh Kayla, we're gonna join Fairy Tail!" Lumia chirped with joy and ran after them with Kayla in tow, leaving Happy and Natsu with what was left of the food.

"Silly Lucy, she's not the Guild Master" the cat tutted.

* * *

In the mansion currently playing home to the former members of the Hydra Head guild dark things were afoot. Wyndham had never bothered to find out the name of his particular kind of magic, he knew he could summon and control any kind of insect and that was all that bothered him. Brunhilde called him arrogant for that but honestly he didn't care. This guild was one of the few places he had found where people didn't automatically recoil in disgust the second one of his worms or roaches made it's presence known. Right now he was busy. His spiders had secured their captive in a cellar and right now one of his unique mutations was hard at work. It had been a moth once but under Wyndham's powers it had become much more. It was currently covering the boy in spores that would induce a sleeping sickness. The Master wanted to see Bosh's new magic for himself, this so-called Dreamers magic. Maybe he was hoping that it held the key to his dream of eternal life. Whatever. It didn't matter to Wyndham, as long as he had a place where he didn't have to feel ashamed of his power he'd do his part. If that meant keeping this boy poisoned and tied up then so be it.

He felt the spiders in the corner of the room move. Someone was coming.

"I thought I'd find you down here Wyndham" said a far too cheerful voice. The man would never understand where the girl got her cheerful disposition from. Lady Eustace carefully made her way down the stairs. Following her closely was her guard dog, the ever prim and proper Brunhilde.

"Of course I'm down here. The Master ordered me to keep that secured" He gestured towards the boy in the spider webs

"You don't think he's a real person?"

"Real people don't fall apart and get sucked into books. I don't know what it is" The man spoke grumpily "Now why are you here?"

Truth be told Wyndham didn't really mind Lady Eustace. The blind girl never reacted with disgust to him or his powers. He hated her damn maid though, always following her about and treating everything with scorn. Right now he could see her sneering at the dirty cellar out of his one good eye.

"I wanted to ask you what you thought about that new guy, Maddock. He only joined our guild a few weeks before… well… you know. But ever since then The Master has been acting like he's this really old friend that he's known forever. But I don't know anything about him" the young girl said. She'd been the daughter of a wealthy merchant once, until her powers had driven the entire family insane. Only Brunhilde had been strong enough to withstand it, and she was fiercely loyal to the young girl. Ever since then the young Lady had made it a point to be sure that she knew as much as she could about the people around her, in order to avoid any more…mistakes. Having an unknown factor like Maddock around must be seriously messing with the girl's head. No wonder the maid looked ready to chew nails.

"Well, he's not here now. He's gone to find Bosh's book. If it smells half as bad as he does it'll be an easy job. You don't trust him do you?"

"For once we agree on something, Insect man" The maid spoke briefly before going back to her disdainful inspection of the room.

"Well The Master trusts him, even if we don't. That has to count for something" Said Lady Eustace

"We'll see. First off he has to bring the book back. Then we'll see if we can trust him" said the bug man.


	5. Chapter 5

In a town called Magnolia there is a certain Guild Hall where mages gather every day to trade stories, accept jobs or just generally be together. The Fairy Tail Guild Hall was famous for more than just the strong Wizards who gathered there, the giant parties it threw to celebrate it's members successes or the wild brawls that always broke out whenever too many people with strong personalities gather. It was also famous for the sense of family and belonging that existed between its members. It was said that no other guild was as close as the wizards of the Fairy Tail Guild, and that there were very few secrets between them.

Marci wanted to run away.

While Lumia was clearly a Magical Girl in the wrong genre and Kayla was aiming for some dark anti-hero stereotype the character she'd written was something else entirely. She shouldn't be joining any legal guild, and yet the iron fist of Titania Erza was firmly grasping her collar and was dragging her backwards towards the hall. After Lucy had explained her plan to the red haired requip mage Erza had gone into business mode. While she was happy with the three Prospects she wouldn't count them as official Fairy Tail Mages who could be trusted with Fairy Tail business until they were officially recruited. She had then grabbed Marci in one hand, her trailer full of luggage in the other and began the march towards Magnolia. Lumia had skipped the whole way, bonding with Natsu over Dragon Slayer magic while Kayla had unsuccessfully tried to flirt with Gray, who had ignore her. Lucy had pulled the dark haired girl to one side and warned her that a certain Rain Woman would be sure to make her life a misery if she ever found out that the scantily clad hussy had dared try to make her beloved Gray-Sama stray, either that or just outright drown her. Whichever was faster.

They arrived at the guild far faster than Marci had anticipated, which was probably a good thing since being dragged like a sack of potatoes hurt. Natsu was the first to burst through the door.

"WE'RE BACK EVERYONE!" The Dragon Slayer announced

* * *

Although the three hadn't discussed how they should act around actual characters there seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement between Marci and Kayla that running their mouths about things they shouldn't know about was a very bad idea. Lumia for her part was too excited about joining a guild to even think about anything beyond what color she wanted her guild mark to be.

At the bar they could see Mirajane Strauss smiling brightly as the group entered. Cana Alberona sat cross-legged on the bar holding a half drunk barrel. Elfman Strauss was passing by, shouting something to Natsu about his 'Manly greeting' while across from them Macao and Wakaba were sharing a table, the two dirty old men staring approvingly at Kayla's very tiny outfit.

And it was business as usual. Natsu began loudly telling everyone all about the giant monsters he had fought singlehanded, Gray pointing out that that wasn't how it happened. Bickering led to arguing, arguing led to shoving, and before you knew it a brawl had broken out. They'd been here all of five minutes.

"And just how long were you brats planning to go without tearing up the place?" asked a new voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to the staircase to see that none other than the Guild Master, Makarov Dreyar, was walking towards them

"Master Makarov, perfect timing. Lucy and I need to discuss some things from our last job with you. Is Levy or Team Shadow Gear around? Or perhaps The Thunder God Tribe?" Said Erza, finally letting go of the wizard she was dragging, who had given up on escaping long ago.

"Both teams are out on jobs. I take it this is regarding the artifact retrieval mission?" said the Master.

"Indeed. Something… unexpected has come up."

"I see. And who are these young ladies you've brought with you?" Makarov asked as he took in the newcomers. Lumia was in the middle of teaching Happy a cute pose. Juvia was already sizing up Kayla as a potential Love Rival, just as Lucy had predicted. And Marci was still lying on the floor where Erza had dropped her, lost in thought and staring intently at her outstretched right hand.

"New recruits. This one…" Erza indicated Marci on the floor "…is a Glyph Mage, and Lucy feels that we're going to need the help of our best Letter Magic specialist

"Hmm" Makarov looked thoughtful "We'll discuss this later. Right now the client for that mission is in my office. We need to see him first. Mira, could you take care of these three while we're busy?"

"Of course, leave everything to me" smiled the barmaid

Erza followed the Master up the stairs and motioned for Lucy to join her. After a moment's deliberation the Celestial Wizard quickly slipped the book, still wrapped in it's yellowing sheet, into Erza's mountain of luggage. She'd apologize later.

* * *

Marci didn't see them go, She was too busy contemplating what joining a guild would mean. Maybe a change this big would be a good thing? She didn't know. Either way, none of this was what she'd expected. Mira was talking about formal stuff but she wasn't listening, until the Fairy Tail mage said "Well that covers the basics, now lets get to my favorite part. Where do you want your guild marks"?

"That's it! How could I not see it before!" Marci suddenly yelled and sat up, grabbing her bag and pulling a light pen out of it. She began to scribble on her arms, muttering to herself as she did so.

"Elements in balance...Contradictory symbols of the sun and moon, gold and silver, water and fire... bring together to disrupt... everyone's staring at me, aren't they?"

"Well you are talking like a crazy person" Kayla rolled her eyes.

Mira just giggled. "If you're busy down there I could always do your friend's marks first, although you may want to try a chair. They're much more comfortable than the floor"

"Yeah… This may take a while"

* * *

Erza and Lucy had followed the Master to his office where the client was waiting. As hard as Lucy tried, she could not remember for the life of her what the client had looked like, or if it had even been a man or a woman. This was weird.

"Ladies, this is our client. I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

The man in Makarov's office was tall and broad. He wore a cloak with a hood that covered most of his body, but his face was covered in an elaborate tattoo and his eyes glowed yellow.

"My name is Maddock. And if these charming young ladies are here am I to assume that the job is complete?" He spoke, yet Lucy was left feeling like she'd missed something important.

"The artifact, yes. I'm afraid there was a slight mishap," said Erza, producing the three shards of the Lacrima from behind her back. Makarov's face paled.

"I see. No matter, did you happen to come across a spell book during your mission? I have reason to believe it is dangerous"

"I did have it… I don't have it with me now" Lucy said. Something about those yellow eyes was compelling, yet even though she was staring at them she still couldn't tell what the man's face looked like. What was his name again? Erza suddenly looked at him distrustfully.

"Where is it now?" He asked

"I…"

"What Lucy means to say is that we destroyed it. It was clearly a cursed item and we all felt that it was too dangerous to keep" Erza interrupted. She met the man's gaze. It was hard to look at him, as though some spell were obscuring her senses. It was only thanks to her artificial eye that Erza could tell that something wasn't right.

"Is that so?"

"It is"

He stood up then. "In that case I'll be leaving" and just like that he was walking out the door. Erza shivered. That was too easy. He'd be back.

"Hmm, that's odd. I'm sure there was something I had to do before I spoke to you two about your mission but I can't remember what it was" Makarov scratched his chin.

"It seems Lucy was right about that spell book"

* * *

Lumia's elaborate pink Magical Girl dress was covered in gold lace and frills, it looked more like something you'd wear to a prom than to a battle. The back was cut low enough that when Mira held up the guild stamp she was able to turn around and have it put on her back, in-between her shoulder blades. Unsurprisingly she chose gold for her color. Kayla, surprise surprise, wanted black and wanted it on her hip. Again she had to move very little clothing for Mira to place it.

"Are you done with your calculations yet?" Mira was asking her as a hooded figure made to leave the guildhall. The figure turned his tattooed face towards the three girls, but his gaze seemed to linger on the blonde that was writing on her arm. His eyes, now changed to black, shot her a look of pure hatred, before he left the hall. The red haired mage hadn't been affected by his first glyph, The Mark of the Deceiver, and had stopped her friend from telling him something important. And now She was here. He wasn't done with them. Not by a long shot. But now was not the time. Not in the middle of enemy territory. Maddock slipped out quietly. A faint smile on his face as he thought of what was to come.

* * *

"Aha! Right here. It's very important that it goes right here! This line connects directly to the heart. It's very important" Marci beamed at Mira and showed her a spot on her right wrist

"Well that's one decision made. Do you have to do all that to decide the color too?" Mira teased good-naturedly.

"Err… surprise me"

"Ok, I'll make it green. Just like your eyes" Marci jumped. She'd been unaware that her glasses had slipped.

"Careful, don't let all that hard work go to waste" Mira teased as she put the stamp to the girl's wrist. "Is it true that Glyph mage's eyes change color when they have an active spell on their body? Because I think you'd look really pretty with blue eyes. That's if you get to choose the color"

"Err… yeah, it's true alright. Where did you hear that?"

"Oh it's just a rumor that's been floating around" Mira beamed at her before going back to work "If you girls need anything I'll be right here!"

The three girls found a relatively private booth at the back of the hall. Natsu had begun an arm wrestling tournament with Elfman so all the attention was on them, giving the three a chance to talk.

"Guys! We're Fairy Tail wizards! How cool is that!" Lumia was bouncing with joy, but Kayla shushed her. There was something else on her mind.

"Something's been bugging me. Marci, if you made that stupid Glyph spell up how did Lucy and Mirajane know so much about it?" Kayla asked, for once not acting superior to her companions.

"I'm not sure. When I wrote my story I just treated it like something that had always just been there, like any other kind of magic. So I'm guessing it makes sense that the more well connected people know about it," Marci reasoned.

"So you're saying that things that already exist in our stories should be here waiting for us. Like if I went to a library and found a book on your magic it'd be full of spells or people who are good at it? Because you've already made it into a thing that exists in your story"

"That sounds about right. That was how we had the money to buy food earlier" Marci puffed up her chest, proud that she'd done at least one thing right.

"That joke just wasn't funny" Kayla scowled" In any case I know what my next move it. I have a private cabin in the woods outside Magnolia" she smirked. It was odd to see her doing something other than scowling.

"That's awesome! So we can go there and rest up, and worry about figuring everything else out in the morning!" Lumia cheered up… for about a minute before Kayla reminded everyone of how truly horrible a person she was.

"Weren't you listening? I said a private cabin. I'm not taking you there. You two losers can sort yourselves out" and with that she sauntered away with her head held high and not a backwards glance at the two she was abandoning. This time Lumia couldn't stop a few tears from spilling out.

"Hey! Don't cry over miss Panties-Too-Tight. We can fix this" Marci tried to cheer her up.

"I..I just…I don't know why… she ha… has to be so mean" The poor girl was fighting not to cry. She wasn't winning. A few of the other wizards had noticed that one of their new recruits was clearly upset about something. Cana came over and joined them at their table, and by the time Marci was done explaining that Kayla had just took off Lumia was sobbing. Cana gave her a cloth to dry her eyes. It smelled like beer but Lumia didn't care.

"That skanky bitch, just leaving her friends like that" Cana grumbled

"Actually, friend is kind of strong. We only really met yesterday," Marci explained. It didn't fix Cana's mood any.

"If you need a place to stay there's always room at Fairy Hills. Didn't Mira explain that?" The card mage asked with a worried expression

"She said it was really expensive. I don't have any money" Lumia sniffled. Clearly she was fighting off another bought of tears. Marci couldn't leave her like that. The girl had been hiding behind her big smiles all but this clearly had to be hard on her, waking up in a strange world with no idea how they'd got here or how to get home. She'd left her pack on the ground earlier, now she dug into it and pulled out her purse.

"Let's see. I got 190,500 jewel…" She looked thoughtful. As Cana and Lumia watched she split the pile in two and gave the slightly bigger one to the crying girl.

"And that's 100,000. That should cover it, right?" Cana nodded "You don't have to worry about paying me back till we've done a few jobs" Marci said softly with a faint smile.

"You really mean it?"

"Sure I do. I can deal with roughing it for a night". Lumia picked up the money, and then she threw her arms around Marci's neck in a tearful hug. Lucy and Erza came down the stairs after their meeting with Makarov, when they saw the scene with Lumia crying they came over to see if they could help. Cana began to explain when a loud voice bellowed out "A REAL MAN DOESN'T NEED TO CHEAT TO WIN AT ARM WRESTLING!" and the tables began to fly as another brawl broke out. This was what, the second one in an hour?

"…And then she just up and walked out. Didn't care that the poor kid was crying, she just waltzed on out" Clearly Cana was going to be telling this story for a while. Lucy was not looking forward to seeing the two cross paths. Erza had already managed to escape the flying furniture and take Lumia over to Mira to make arrangements. That left the three of them sitting under a table, or at least it did until one of Cana's beloved beer barrels caught a stray fist that sent it flying. With a cry of 'HEY! Watch what you're doing!" the drunkard card mage joined the fray.

"That was a really nice thing you did for Lumia" Lucy began, earning a modest laugh from Marci

"She needs a place to stay, today's been really hard" Marci smiled as she rubbed the back of her neck, still raw from the day's worth of being dragged by it. "Besides, I'm sure I can figure out something" Lucy grabbed her arm.

"How about you stay at my place tonight? Then we can look for an apartment for you tomorrow? There are places cheaper than Fairy Hills and once you're working you can afford to pay rent" Lucy said with a big smile.

"You just want me to decipher the stink book for you" Marci groaned.

"That was the condition for you joining the guild, remember?"

"Ok, I'll look at it. But I can't promise anything" Marci sighed. Really, what choice did she have?


	6. Chapter 6

**Long time no update. Sorry about that, but it was for a good reason. My ****boyfriend proposed to me! So I've been kinda busy and excited. **

**As ever, Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. Eagle eyed readers may spot a few quotes from the amazing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, property of Hirohiko Araki which I highly recommend.**

**Any and all thoughts are welcome and appreciated **

* * *

Lucy's apartment was gorgeous, no two ways about it. Having seen it in the flesh, so to speak, Marci could completely understand why Lucy had such a problem with stray wizards (particularly those of the fire dragon slaying persuasion) breaking in all the time. After a brief tour and an introduction to the couch where she'd be spending the night Lucy decided to show off her bathroom. She loved her bathroom, in fact she loved her bathroom so much that she needed to take a bath as soon as possible, sorry to be rude, I know we just got here but a girl has needs. The glyph mage told her that she didn't mind as Lucy was shoving her out of the bathroom door, and offered to make dinner while her host went off to make herself feel normal and relaxed again.

In truth Marci just wanted a few moments to herself.

When they'd first appeared her two companions had been far too preoccupied to notice the long red coat she'd been wearing. She'd quickly snatched it off and hid it in her pack. Not giving too much attention to her character's appearance had meant that she'd ended up with a look that was based far too much on her influences for her liking. The coat was a dead giveaway. Just about every hero she liked wore one. She pulled it out of the pack.

The coat was a darker red than she'd first thought, not as bulky as she'd worried and it had a simple hood that would cover her head effectively. She decided to put it in her Requip space, with all the excitement everyone seemed to have forgotten she could do that. Speaking of Requip there were more things she needed to check. First off the sword, a flash of light and it was in her hand. It was a beautiful silver blade, slender and slightly curved, with a fencer's style hand guard. It was everything she was afraid it would be.

Now for the part she was truly scared of. With a quick glance to the bathroom door to make sure Lucy was still busy she began.

Info dump time. This is how it works. A completed glyph matrix is bound to the caster's skin, allowing for the spell it contains to be cast quickly by passing magic energy though the matrix. As a result the caster's eyes will change color to show that the chosen spell is active. Stronger spells take larger matrixes, so Glyph mages tend to run out of space on their bodies very quickly.

Marci's story had been about finding a way to store and requip completed glyphs

The requip spell was far too easy to cast. The marks flowed over the exposed skin on her arms like spilled ink before settling into a series of spiral patterns reaching from her shoulders down to her hands, spreading down her back and onto her legs all the way down to her feet. Her once green eyes turned a glowing and bloody red color. It was far too easy.

Marci looked at the spell on her arms and cursed lightly. She'd tried to place her guild mark in such a way that it would disrupt the lines and break the glyph, but the guild mark had just switched out the same way that Erza's armor would have done. It would still work, despite her efforts to sabotage it.

This was not good

* * *

"Wow! Something smells amazing!" a certain pink haired Dragon Slayer announced as he climbed in through an open window.

"It can't be Lucy cooking, she can't even boil water" said a certain blue cat that followed him in.

"Oh, hi guys. Lucy's not done in the bath yet. I'm making dinner to thank her for letting me stay the night." Marci said from the stove, stirring a large pot of stew. Her eyes were green again and the marks on her arms were gone.

"If you can cook like that you can stay with me and Natsu next. Do you know any good fish recipes?" Happy was drooling and Natsu was nodding in agreement so hard that his head was in danger of falling off. Nobody even bothered to point out to Happy that he was usually the one saying that fish was better raw. That was when Lucy opened the bathroom door, wearing pink pajamas and towel drying her hair.

"Oh wow! Something smells deli… WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!" She yelled, launching a LUCY KICK at the two intruders that caught Natsu squarely in the chest.

"Pffft! Hey Natsu! Lucy nearly said the same thing you did!" Happy was smirking as he dodged. It earned him a pillow thrown with deadly accuracy to the head.

"Hey, calm down Luce. We smelled the food and it was too good to pass up" Natsu tried to explain. Lucy just rolled her eyes and grumbled about how that wouldn't have made any difference.

"Guys, it's fine, really. I made plenty for everyone" Marci tried to console them before a fight broke out. Thankfully delicious smells and empty bellies won out.

* * *

Outside, a solitary hooded figure was watching them from the distance.

* * *

"Ahh. That was awesome. That couldn't have been better even if it was on fire!" A contented Natsu sighed as he rubbed his belly. The stew had been a hit and everyone was lying around in a food-induced coma.

"And there's still so much left. We'll never eat it all!" sighed Happy.

"Wanna bet? I can eat anything!" Natsu boasted, before utterly failing to get out of his chair, "Can't…move…too…full…"

"I've got a better idea. We should take some to Erza and Lumia up at Fairy Hills! I'm sure they won't mind that we ate ours first" Lucy beamed

"Hehe, Natsu can't go since he's a boy. But I can because I'm a cat! I'll take it!" Happy Saluted. Lucy resisted the urge to tease since it was pretty obvious that the blue Exceed only wanted to go see if Wendy and Carla were back home yet.

"Ok, but if you break my pot you'll regret it cat"

"Aye Sir!"

The three wizards watched as the Exceed took off, carrying a pot full of food. Lucy suddenly groaned.

"Oh I hope he doesn't eat it all on the way there"

* * *

The hooded figure watched as the cat took off carrying something. For a moment he considered following, then movement in the window caught his attention. One of the wizards was holding something

* * *

"Well, we can't put this off forever. I've got some scented candles in the drawer by my desk, will you grab them?" Lucy asked, pulling a filthy yellow thing out of her back. The book had ruined the magic sheet she'd bought for it.

"Lucy, do we have to? We just ate!" Natsu complained

"I already said, we couldn't keep putting it off. There are innocent people trapped in this book." Lucy said, opening the window and lighting the candles. Next came the part she was dreading. With a grimace Lucy peeled back the cover.

* * *

The figure moved closer. There was no mistaking that smell.

* * *

"Woah! That is some powerful corruption!" Marci gasped as Lucy ran around exaggeratedly waving her hands in front of her face. Oddly enough Natsu, despite having the most sensitive nose of them all, seemed unaffected. Maybe he was just more used to tolerating smells than the girls were.

"Corruption? What do you mean?" The pink haired mage asked.

"Well, whatever was in there originally was something pure and honest. It's being forced into something completely unnatural to it, something it was never meant for. The smell is a reaction to that" The words came out of Marci's mouth but she had no idea where they were coming from. This wasn't her doing

"The people in there shouldn't be in there. That makes sense. So how do we get them out?" Natsu nodded.

"That part I'm not sure about"

The Dragon Slayer sat thoughtfully for a moment with his arms crossed, before jumping up and marching over to Lucy's desk where he grabbed a pencil. Before anyone could stop him, he grabbed the book and scribbled in scruffy but readable letters ARE YOU OK IN THERE?

"NATSU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Lucy shrieked in horror.

That was when the pencil marks Natsu had made began to move and reform.

HELP US! LET US OUT! It read.

* * *

Outside the figure moved closer. His hard black eyes flashed and turned a brilliant orange color. It was time. The Fairy Tail wizards were distracted and separated from the rest of the guild. Now that the cat had left there was only the infamous Salamander to contend with. The busty blonde that was keeping the book looked to be little threat. Then there was the spiky headed idiot. He'd deal with that problem personally, but now was not the time. It was enough for now that she'd finally come out of hiding.

* * *

Lucy had snatched the book away from Natsu and was sat trying to think of a question she could ask the people trapped inside when the Dragon Slayer suddenly snapped to attention.

"Lucy. I smell fire," he said simply. The next moment a giant fireball burst through the open window. Even as Lucy screamed Natsu was already inhaling it.

"Whoever's throwing fire around is pretty dumb. All you've done is put a fire in my belly!" The Salamander yelled out the window to the attacker

"I got you're attention didn't I?" the man stood brazenly in the street and spoke with a smirk. He was tall and broad, his bare chest and face covered in tattoos. His orange eyes glinted maliciously "Hand over the book your pretty blonde friend took and the demonstration will be over"

"Demonstration? You threw a fireball right into my friend's home! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF I HADN'T BEEN HERE!" Natsu yelled as he leapt out of the window, throwing himself at the intruder

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" His fists exploded into brilliant flames flying towards the tattooed man like meteors.

The intruder caught them.

"What's wrong? Not used to not being the only fire mage?" He taunted as he twisted Natsu's arm, throwing him through the air. The Dragon Slayer crashed through a nearby wall. The man smirked arrogantly.

"I'll take that as a yes. Ladies, I'll be taking that book now"

"Oh no you won't! FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!" an inferno engulfed the attacker as Natsu rushed in for another round. The man dodged Natsu's attack and laughed as the pink haired man flew into another building, crashing straight though another wall.

Up in Lucy's apartment the two girls were watching the exchange. Lucy desperately grabbed her keys; clearly Natsu's fire wasn't hurting his opponent one bit, and it wouldn't take much longer before houses started falling down. Marci was watching the fight quietly, her eyes going from the book, to the intruder, to the pencil in her hand.

"Marci, what are you doing? We have to help Natsu," The Celestial mage shouted. The spiky headed girl adjusted her glasses, and then she picked up the book. Taking care to wrap it in the stink proof cloth as she did so.

"I've got a plan. It's a secret, special technique that I've been working on that's very effective in situations like this"

"You do? That's great! What is it"?

"See how all of his attention is focused on Natsu? He's not paying attention to anything else. That's crucial to my plan"

"I see. What do we do next?" Lucy asked, readying a key.

"Out the window. We need to be on street level or this will never work"

They jumped, landing easily on the street

"Now the most important part. While he's distracted, WE RUN LIKE HELL!" And with that Marci turned around, book in arms, and ran for the hills.

"WHAT! What the Hell do you think you're doing?" Lucy yelled at the escaping mage. Their shouting drew the tattooed man's attention.

"Oh no you don't. Get back here!" he roared and gave pursuit

Now came the part Marci was scared of. She'd tried a few basic glyphs since waking up in this world, but this was the first time she'd tried a full one. Letting the requip spell activate, she focused all her energy hard on the marks that had appeared on her legs. The next instant she couldn't breathe.

* * *

Lucy was watching as the girl ran, the man gave chase, and then she seemed to stop moving all together. As her pursuer reached out his hand passed harmlessly though her head, like a ghost, and then the image faded from sight. That was when Lucy realized that wherever Marci had gone, she'd taken the book with her, safely away from their attacker.

"Alright, now it's my turn" She spun a golden key through the air, "OPEN! GATE OF THE LION! LOKE" A sudden burst of light appeared, and out of it stepped a well-dressed man with a mane of orange hair.

"Natsu can't hurt this guy, he's fireproof. Think you can handle it?"

"Leave it to me, my Lovey Lucy" Loke smirked with a flirtatious smile on his face

* * *

Across town Marci finally stopped moving. Across town? All the way across town? She had no idea. All she knew was that she had sorely misjudged how strong her third mark, The Mark of Liberation, had been. She collapsed against a wall and gasped desperately for air.

During the Grand Magic Games arc she'd been fascinated with Kagura's gravity magic and had imagined all kinds of possibilities, only to be sorely disappointed when all it was used for was a few wall runs and a running joke about Risely's size. She'd imagined that by altering the casters own personal gravity they could influence their speed. That was how Liberation was written. Sending constant magic energy through the mark would allow the user to control their own gravity, sticking to walls, making impossible jumps etc., but a short and sudden burst would result in a sudden burst of speed.

At least that was the plan. She hadn't imagined what had actually happened.

She'd just Flash Stepped so hard it had sucked all the air out of her lungs. It was kind of how she imagined stepping into an airless void like outer space would feel. It hurt.

That had blown that plan.

The one where they lured the madman away from all the homes he and Natsu were destroying with their fight.

Finally able to breathe again, Marci looked around her. She'd stopped in an alleyway by some trash bins. How nice. Around here were piles of old newspapers and sealed up bags that people had thrown out. Her eyes rested on the newspapers. Then the pencil she'd somehow managed to keep a hold of

This could work

* * *

One Flash Step later, this time prepared for the explosive decompression in her chest (she breathed out first) and Marci was stood on a bridge over the canal watching Natsu and Loke going toe to toe with the orange-eyed tattooed man while Lucy was keeping a safe distance. She paused for a second to make sure her lungs were working, then stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could. Four heads snapped around to the sound.

"Oh look. The coward returns" The tattooed man said dryly. Marci simply stood and scratched at her ear like she'd misheard him.

"What was that? Say that again, in a language that I understand this time. Depending on what you say I may have to kick your ass!" Ok, so quoting someone else's line wasn't the smartest move ever, but it had the desired effect. And it was a cool line.

"You dare, you little bitch" He turned to walk over to her. Flames in his eyes, Natsu and Lucy forgotten.

"Watch it! One wrong step and stinky here takes a bath!" Marci shouted, pulling the book from behind her back and holding it over the water.

"Marci! No! There are people in there!" Lucy yelled to her. The tattooed man didn't stop his advance.

"Jeeze, what do you even want this thing for anyway? It smells worse than… than…It just stinks ok, I can't think of anything worse" with that she threw the book aside, straight at the canal.

The tattooed man reacted instantly. The marks across his shoulders and upper arms shone with magic energy and his eyes turned from a burning orange to a steely grey. He reached out his arm, and a nearby manhole cover shot from the street as though propelled by a magnet, wrapping itself around the book before it hit the water.

"NATSU! HE'S DROPPED THE FIRE SPELL! HIT HIM NOW!" Marci yelled. Natsu didn't need to be told twice.

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

This time the man had no defense against the Dragon Slayer. The punch sent him flying. Desperately he flung out his arm, using the magnetic powers that the new spell gave him to pull the book in its metal shell towards him, before crashing through a wall.

"This isn't over, Marcella!" He hissed between his teeth before sulking off, activating the Mark of the Deceiver to cover his tracks. He'd got what he'd come here for.

* * *

While Natsu went off to try to find the attacker Lucy went up to Marci on the bridge. She was not impressed.

"How could you do that? You let him get away with the book" Lucy began yelling

"You mean this?" Marci pulled the loose pages she'd been hiding out of the pack of her shirt. "I ripped the cover off and stuffed it with old newspapers. Don't worry, I told the guys inside what I was doing. It looked pretty convincing too, didn't it?"

Lucy took the remains of the book from her.

"What? You didn't really think I'd just run and leave everyone like that?"

Marci could just stare as the blonde in front of her started laughing.

"It even smells better now!" Lucy managed to choke out between giggles. By the time Natsu came back Lucy was in the middle of a full belly laugh.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow. Chapter 7 and no reviews, not even bad ones. This must be some kind of record. Still, to the two people who have favourited my story, thank you so much, I love you :)**

**I'm ridiculously slow to update, but I'm enjoying writing as a break from the madness that is my life. I'm also messing around with an idea for a GaLe AU thing, since my little one shot keeps getting views**

**As ever, I own nothing. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lumia arrived at the guild early with Erza. The red haired mage had took it upon herself to get the younger girl set up with a room and had spent the rest of the night taking care of her. This had ended up with all the other girls in the dorm getting involved; and stories had spread about how Kayla had so brazenly abandoned the young girl. She was a lot happier this morning having spent the night having an impromptu slumber party, but now that morning had arrived she was a little nervous about what it would bring

Marci, together with Lucy and Natsu, were the next to arrive. By this point Gray had somehow lost his pants. Natsu had decided that this was the sort of problem that could only be solved by punching the Ice wizard really hard in the face. The Glyph mage stupidly walked into the middle of it, but was able to narrowly avoid the flying icicles and fireballs, dancing and crying the whole way before diving into a booth beside her young friend and shivering about how the whole thing was "Scary!"

Kayla was late.

While Lucy pulled Erza off to one side to tell her about last night's attack Marci decided to see how the younger girl was settling in.

"I love it at Fairy Hills! Everyone is so friendly. Wendy is the nicest person ever, and Juvia is really sweet as long as she thinks you're not a Love Rival. After Happy came by with the food you made me he stayed over and we all chatted about people's crushes" Lumia was glowing, watching as Gray and Natsu managed to punch each other square in the face, earning a double K.O. before a full blown guild hall brawl broke out. Juvia was there in an instant, tending to her beloved's wounds and using a paper fan she had produced from a back pocket to fan cool air towards him. The fact that the fan had 'Gray-Sama Love Love' and little pink hearts with hand drawn Gray faces in the middle all over it was enough to shock the downed Ice Wizard back to his senses.

Lumia smiled, "I totally ship Gruvia".

"Sounds like you had fun" Marci smiled, deciding not to worry the girl with news about her fight, "Wait, Juvia doesn't think you're a potential rival?"

"Gray-Sama! Wait! Juvia still needs to check you for concussions!" They heard the love struck water mage call out, as a vaguely Gray-shaped dust cloud appeared where the man had previously been. "Gray-Sama! Come back!"

"No, Juvia says I'm too young to be a threat. That and I said that she and Gray were the most perfect couple ever, I wanted to be flower girl at their wedding and that I liked Natsu better anyways"

"Don't let the NaLu shippers hear you say that" They both laughed at that.

"There is one thing though… Carla… started acting weird around me" said Lumia

"Weird how?"

"I don't know. She went really still and started saying something like 'not real'. But then she just went quiet and wouldn't sit near me" The girl's face fell.

That was when the door burst open. Three figures rushed in, a blue haired girl in the lead followed by two young men. Between them they were carrying a fourth, another girl. She was unconscious.

"Help us, she's hurt bad!" Levy McGarden, leader of Team Shadowgear, called out to her guild.

* * *

Erza was busy inspecting the remains of the book that Lucy had given her. With the cover ripped off it seemed that the foul smell had finally worn off. The figures were more visible in the pages too. So far Lucy had managed to make out six separate individuals, but she was unable to tell who they were or how to free them.

"And your attacker. He left after he took the decoy?" Erza questioned.

"Yeah. He didn't take the time to make sure he had the real thing. Once he got the fake he took off. Even Natsu couldn't find any trace of him," Lucy explained.

"And you say he used Glyph magic?"

"He had the tattoos. And when Marci tricked him into changing spells his eyes changed colours, there's no doubt about it" Lucy was explaining.

That was when they heard Levy's shout.

* * *

"We were in Hargeon finishing up a job" Levy was explaining to her assembled guild mates. "Then the weather started getting really bad, like a storm was coming in, then all this lightning started falling from the sky"

The girl was currently settled in the guild infirmary with Wendy attempting to heal her, and Carla helping as much as she could. Mira had brought the others downstairs to give them some much-needed space.

"At first, we thought that Laxus was fighting someone nearby" Jet added, while Droy was comforting himself from the experience with a plate of chicken legs. "Uh huh", he said between mouthfuls "But Laxus has way more control than this. Whoever it was had no clue what they were doing"

"We went to find the source of it, to find out what was happening. That was when we found her. I never got her name but she was using lightning magic. Badly. She had no idea how to control it" Levy finished.

"What was she fighting?" Asked Erza

"That's just it, I couldn't tell. From a distance it looked like a swarm of some kind of insect. But why would you need lightning to scare off a few bugs?" pondered the Script Mage.

"Did you say bugs?" called a small voice. Wendy had come out of the infirmary; she was holding Carla in her arms and looked near tears.

"Wendy! What happened? Is the girl ok?" Levy asked

"I'm so sorry. I did everything I could, but she won't wake up." said Wendy in a small sad voice.

"Don't he disheartened, you did your best" said the small white Exceed in her arms. "There were several small wounds on the girls arms that looked like insect bites. It's possible that these creatures you saw were venomous, and Wendy can't drive the poison out without knowing what it is. We should fetch Porlyursuca" Carla's tone was commanding.

While the rest of the guild began to discuss the new developments Marci pulled Lumia to one side. Levy had mentioned that the poisoned girl hadn't been able to control her powers, and her own experience last night with how badly she had underestimated her own flash step ability had started the gears turning in her head.

"Hey Lumia," she spoke in a hushed tone "Have you tried using your magic yet?"

"Not yet, no. Why?"

"Something just occurred to me. We need to find Kayla"

That was when the door burst open for the second time this morning, and another familiar figure came in dragging another unwilling body. The Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox, and his exceed partner Pantherlily strolled into the hall, dragging a struggling figure. A young boy this time, dressed in blue jeans and a short black jacket. No shirt or shoes, with a spikey black and red Mohawk. He was struggling against Gajeel's grasp, and would have been yelling too had the Dragon Slayer clearly not gotten sick of the noise and put a restraint over the boy's mouth

"Huh? Gajeel? Who's this?" A confused Mira spoke for everyone.

"A damn pain in my ass, that's who. Stupid brat was tryin' ta wreck half the damn town over some stupid bugs" Gajeel growled.

* * *

Maddock was furious. That idiot Marcella had made a fool out of him. She'd used the worthless cover of the book stuffed with newspapers to trick him! Him! He was twice the mage that moron girl was and she'd managed to deceive him! She was going to pay dearly for this.

Brando sat cool and unreadable by a desk. Looking at the tattered remains of Bosh's book. Maddock hated that man, but right now he needed him and his so-called guild. This was not the time.

"This is… most unfortunate" Brando spoke at last, running a hand through his pretty long hair and pouting his girly lips. Maddock wanted nothing more than to take his fists to the pretty boy's perfect face and mess it up beyond repair. His face betrayed none of this.

"A miscalculation on my part. I know who has the rest, and it would be my pleasure to tear that person to pieces" all the best lies have a small grain of truth in them. The only person Maddock hated more than pretty boy Brando with his fear of dying was that accursed thief Marcella.

"There is another way you know" a girlish voice spoke up. That girl from the noble family, the one with the maid who looked disgusted with everything. She was sitting in a soft looking chair by the fireplace with her guard dog stood behind her shoulder. "Wyndham has been so busy. He's found more of those fake people with his insects. He's got three of them all tied up and sleeping downstairs right now," She continued

"Lady Eustace is correct. While this… person has been occupied, Wyndham has been most productive" the maid sneered. Maddock wanted to ruin her ugly horse face too.

"Tell me, my dear Lady Eustace, what is this other way of which you speak" Even the way Brando spoke was irritating. Maddock kept his face neutral.

"Well, we've got enough people to begin, and Mr. Stinky knows what to do. Why don't I just pull the spells straight out of his head? Wyndham found four of the fake people in one night, so if Bosh's biggest problem was that he couldn't find the right ones we're already doing better than he ever did" Eustace acted as though she were discussing her favorite cake, not hatching some bloodthirsty plan.

Brando smiled."My lady, you are a genius"

* * *

Kayla was still late.

Makarov and Erza had taken charge of Gajeel's stray, who had identified himself by the name Xavier Blood Moon, and claimed to have magic that turned anything he touched into a weapon. He didn't know much else about himself beside the ridiculous name, which sounded kind of familiar to Marci and Lumia. Makarov had taken the boy to his office to discuss things. He only looked about ten years old.

They were standing by the request board and discussing where to begin looking for the absent so-called Darkness mage, when she strode through the door as if nothing had happened.

"And what did you losers do? Sleep on the floor here?" She snarked, completely oblivious to the morning's events; and to the dirty looks that the entire female population of the guild was giving her.

"Why you" Lumia began but was sharply cut off by Marci's hand across her mouth

"We made do, ha-ha," She laughed with her free hand behind her head. Kayla gave them both a blank look. "Whatever. What jobs are you looking at?"

"We actually hadn't started. There's something important we need to talk about. Have you tried using your magic yet?"

"What's it to you?"

"Well, there's a girl in the infirmary who couldn't control her magic"

"And what's that got to do with me?" Kayla scowled

"I tried a spell last night and it didn't go according to plan. So I'm asking you, have you tried out your magic yet?"

"No, I haven't, but I don't need to because I'm not stupid like you. I know that my magic will work perfectly. And I don't care about some no-hope moron in the infirmary. Now hurry up and pick a job"

Lumia was looking furious while Marci scanned the board. They needed something easy, since both Lumia and Kayla hadn't tested their powers yet. As she read the request Kayla was watching the guild. Her eyes went to the table where Levy had joined Gajeel and Lily, comparing notes about the bugs they both saw that morning, and a smile touched her lips.

"Ok, how about this one?" Marci picked up a flier. She snatched the paper from Marci's hand. It was a request for a simple mission guarding a delivery the next town over. The reward was low but the job wasn't expected to last longer than a day. Kayla's response to this was her trademark look of disgust.

"If we do things your way we'll never get anything done" Kayla condescended as she scanned the board for something more in keeping with her image. "I've been thinking, everything we've written so far has come true, right"

"Yeah, I guess"

"Ok, so if we play our stories out to the end that should do it. After all, once we run out of story there's nothing left to keep us here, now is there?"

Marci didn't answer. Lumia looked at her feet, worried about something. Kayla didn't notice, her attention was back on the Iron Dragon Slayer

"Now, since Mary-Sue there clearly didn't write anything beyond how 'amazing' she is and you've clearly written yourself into a no-hope background character role we'll just have to go with mine. I'm an S-Class wizard. I'd never be caught dead on the type of missions you two are looking at" With that she plucked a request from near the top of the board. Marci read it warily. It a request to drive a dark guild out of a small village in the mountains. "Now that that's all taken care of, there's something I need to do" She swept away.

"Ohhh, I hate her so much! Always talking down her nose and treating me like I'm not even here" Lumia fumed. Marci's attention was on the job flyer. While it wasn't the most difficult mission there was the three of them had never worked together before. Lumia hadn't even tried used her magic yet.

"Marci, can I ask you something?" Lumia said in a small voice, making the older girl snap out of her musings. "Is Kayla right? About playing out our stories?"

"I don't think so, there's too much weirdness going on. What's got you worried?"

"I.. I didn't… write much…" She started hesitantly. However, that was the moment that Kayla chose to lay across the table where Gajeel and Levy had been talking. "I'll be right back," Marci muttered, giving Lumia the paper and grabbing the first thing that she passed.

"My my! Aren't you handsome? I've been looking for someone like you," The dark haired girl was purring seductively. The Iron Dragon Slayer looked confused. Who was this weirdo? Levy and Lily had shocked looks on their faces at the brazen intruder. Marci ran up, hiding something behind her back. "The hell's goin' on?" Gajeel muttered

"KAYLA! I NEED YOUR HELP WITH SOMETHING!"

"Huh. What is it you moron! Can't you see I'm busy!" Kayla fumed, sitting up to face the nuisance

"Here, hold this" The blond dropped the watermelon she'd grabbed into Kayla's arms.

"And what do you expect me to do with…" an evil glint was in the Glyph Mage's eye "ORA!" and platinum colored stars were dancing around Kayla's head.

"Hah! Look at that, it worked" Marci gave a pleased look to her punching hand, before collecting the watermelon and grabbing her unwilling teammate by the back of her collar. The three sat at the table had no clue what they were watching as the spiky headed girl bowed in apology.

"I am so sorry for my friend, she clearly didn't know what she was doing and I am so sorry that she bothered you. Err… I better go put this back, fruit like this makes for a great distraction but isn't just lying around for no good reason" She babbled, backing away from the Dragon Slayer and dragging the unconscious grouch with her

"Tch, Whatever Spiky Head. Just keep that friend of yours outta my way"

"You punched Kayla! And you got a nickname from Gajeel!" Lumia looked awed

"Err…yeah… We better move fast before she wakes up. Where was the job she wanted? Maybe that'll cheer her up"

"It's a mountain village called Havill. If we get the train we can be there by noon!" Lumia was bouncing with either excitement or nervous energy. Marci couldn't tell.

"MIRA! We're taking a job!" the two of them called over to the barmaid. Lumia ran up with the paper while Marci carried Kayla.

"Wait, do you have a team name yet?" Mira asked

"Oh! I know! Night and Day! Since Kayla's magic is darkness and mine is light!" Lumia smiled.

"Ok, Team Night and Day. Have fun on your mission" Mira smiled at them as they ran for the train station, hoping to reach it before Kayla woke up.

* * *

_A.N - Massive massive thanks and all my love to Ginger The Espeon. Not only for my first review but for bringing to my attention that I'd made a few mistakes in my editing. Turns out I'd fallen foul of that annoying thing where my document got filled with code and in my haste to edit it out before publishing I missed a few bits. Thank you Ginger, I may never have noticed if it weren't for you :) _


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